The New York Times: Republicans Sound Off on the Minimum Wage

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Four of the eight Republican presidential contenders in the prime-time debate on Tuesday were asked their views on raising the federal minimum wage.

Donald Trump, who went first, set the tone when he said that the current minimum of $7.25 an hour was already too low when it took effect in 2009 and should be doubled.

Just kidding!

Here’s what the candidates really said and why they’re all wrong.

Mr. Trump said that American businesses can’t compete because “wages too high” and, for that reason, he would keep the minimum wage where it is.

If American businesses can’t compete – a dubious assertion in itself – it is not because wages are too high. Most working people can’t remember their last raise. And the minimum wage is certainly not too high. Raising it to $12 an hour would simply bring it into line with historical wage-and-price benchmarks. Raising it to $15 an hour would bring it closer to where it would be if it had kept up in recent decades with productivity gains.

All of which makes a higher minimum wage, what’s the word . . . fair? Sensible?